1 Dec 25 - Antarctica 25 - Sailing Away

After dropping my bags with Oceanwide Expeditions and walking around the Urban Reserve on the waterfront, I headed for the port area. The walk takes you past the Saint Christopher. It is a good place to look for Flightless Steamerduck: I've seen it there on two of my three visits to Ushuaia in recent years.

The Saint Christopher

SH Vega is at the front, with Ortelius in the middle and Ushuaia at the back: SH Vega is a polar strength cruise ship which carries about one hundred and fifty passengers in cruise ship type cabins, but I would book on Oceanwide Expeditions ships in preference every time

As I walked past the Saint Christopher, there was a pair of Flightless Steamerducks feeding in front of the boat. Note, the paler head of the male, the heavier orange bill and shorter wings, compared to the Flying Steamerducks (in the last Blog Post).

Flightless Steamerduck: This monotypic species occurs from Southern Chile to Tierra del Fuego

Neotropic Cormorant: This is the brasilianum subspecies which occurs from Costa Rica South to Tierra del Fuego

Night Heron: This adult Night Heron was preening itself on the remains of nearby boat

Some of the local Gulls for the Seagull fans.

Kelp Gull: This is the nominate dominicanus subspecies which occurs in coastal Southern South America, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, Southern Australia, New Zealand & it's Subantarctic Islands

Kelp Gull: Adult. Note the long green legs. This isn't the subspecies that has occurred in the UK

Kelp Gull: Presume this is a First Summer individual

Dolphin Gull: The best Gull species I've seen

After another short walk, I arrived at the port area. I knew we wouldn't be allowed onboard Ortelius for at least another ninety minutes. However, getting there early would mean I would get a seat in the small waiting area. Plus, I would be in the perfect position to be able to board quickly, once we were allowed in. Being in a four berth cabin, it's first come, first choice of bunks. I wanted a lower bunk to allow me to get up quickly and quietly, so I could get on deck for some early morning watches.

Ortelius: My home for the next ten nights

Getting familiar with the lifeboat drill before we sailed

Good to see the IAATO rules for viewing Whales and Seals

The IAATO rules for viewing Whales and Birds

One of the key meetings at the start of the cruise was to meet Pippa, the Expedition Leader, and the rest of the Expedition staff.

The Expedition Team (left to right): Shan, Allan, Saskai, Jess, Sam, Beth, Wei and Gary. The Deputy Expedition Leader George isn't in this photo

After introducing the Expedition team, Pippa went onto provide some details on the likely route. The original plan was to sail South in the Weddell Sea until we were close to the Emperor Penguin colony on Snow Hill Island. However, there had been exceptional amounts of sea ice in the Weddell Sea this season and it didn't seem likely that we would be able to get close enough to Snow Hill. When travelling to extreme locations on expedition ships, I've learnt the weather doesn't always allow the original plan to be achieved.

Pippa, our Expedition Leader

I had bumped into a couple of Expedition staff from one of the other ships in the Urban Reserve and they had said only one ship had managed to make it to Snow Hill about a month earlier. Pippa confirmed that the first two trips on Ortelius hadn't been able to get far South in the Weddell Sea. She did mention that the latest weather forecasts, suggested the ice could move and open a window for us to get closer to Snow Hill Island by the time we reached the Weddell Sea. However, that forecast could and did change into one that wasn't going to allow us to head even as far South as I reached in Jan 23.

Our planned route for the South Shetland Islands to the Weddell Sea: I've coloured Snow Hill Island red

Despite the news about the sea ice, I was still travelling to Antarctica early enough in the Summer season to have a reasonable chance of seeing Emperor Penguins on the sea ice. We would have four days in Antarctica to look, which is a lot longer than most Antarctica trips. It was Oceanwide's key reason for this trip and the route. We knew that the bridge crew would be keeping a close eye out for Emperor Penguins when we reached the Weddell Sea, even if I, some of the keener passengers and the Expedition staff weren't looking due to meal times, the long days etc.

The orange is the Antarctic Peninsula and associated islands: There was exceptional amounts of sea ice (pink) in the Weddell Sea this season and we were wanting to sail about fifty or sixty miles down on the East side of the Peninsula. It didn't look promising

First we had to get down the Beagle Channel. Finally, about 18:30 all the mandatory meetings were over and I went up to the top deck, rather head down for the first evening meal. It wasn't going to be dark until about 21:30. Having seen the pod of Commerson's Dolphins the day before, I was keen to have another look for them. I scanned hard, but the calm conditions of the morning had changed to more typically choppy weather. This made looking for an unobtrusive Commerson's Dolphin harder, if they were still around. I didn't have any joy. However, I did well for Whales after we had passed Martillo Island: with three Humpback Whales, followed by two Sei Whales and finally a Fin Whale. There was also repeats of all the Seabird species I had seen the day before on the Martillo Island trip.

Passing Martillo Island, with some Argentinian mountains in the background

At least a half hour after we passed Martillo Island, the pilot left Ortelius. Once he had departed, the bridge and the bridge wings were opened to the passengers. I switched to the starboard bridge wing and as dinner was over, I was joined by one of the Expedition team, Jess. Jess used to work for ORCA as a seasonal live-aboard surveyor on one of the UK ferries. She had a good Cetacean background and was very familiar with the surveying I do for this excellent charity. She had missed the first two groups of Whales, but arrived in time to see the Fin Whale. We also had brief sightings of the only Dolphin in the Beagle Channel that evening. It didn't give long views as it raced into to play in the wake of the bow. However, we saw enough to be sure it was either a Dusky Dolphin or a Peale's Dolphin: with the former species being the commoner Dolphin, from my experience in the Beagle Channel.

Fin Whale: Unlike the distant tail-slapping group of Humpback Whales and close, but brief, Sei Whales, this Fin Whale stayed on the surface long enough to get some photos

Fin Whale: With a dorsal fin and a lot of back showing, the likely species in these waters are Fin Whale or Sei Whale. The extent of the back will rule out the smaller Whale species like any of the potential Beaked Whales or an Antarctic Minke Whale

Fin Whale: There is a nice smooth curve on a broad-based dorsal fin which fits well for a Fin Whale. Sei Whale have a proportionally narrower-based dorsal fin, as the dorsal fin is thinner and taller, with a distinctive kink on the leading edge

Fin Whale: Another view of the back and the dorsal fin

About thirty minutes the light was going and it was time to head below and socialise with some of the passengers I had met when we first came on board. Then it was time to turn it as I had set my alarm for an early start.

28 Dec 25 - Turkey Or Goose For Post-Christmas

If we were talking food, it would be neither for me as a life-long vegetarian. However, if they are live, then Goose sounds the better option: especially, if they are part of a national influx of Tundra Bean Geese and White-fronted Geese. The Poole Harbour WeBS team had arranged a WeBS count at ten to get everybody off their sofas after the Christmas break. Soon after I got home from counting my Brands Bay section, my phone pinged to say that a flock of five Tundra Bean Geese had been found, along with a much larger flock of White-fronted Geese. They were feeding in a field on the Ridge to Arne road. I decided to defer lunch and I headed back out. I arrived just after one and the field was typically empty. I say this as I've passed that field many times in the last nearly thirty years of living locally and rarely seen anything in it. There were a few of the local Birders waiting. I parked up and joined them. The Geese had been there, but they were spooked by a plane and had disappearing onto the new pools on Arne Moors. After about five minutes, the first party of White-fronted Geese reappeared.

White-fronted Goose: These are the nominate albifrons subspecies which breed in North Russia, eastward to North East Siberia. They winter in Europe, South Asia, North India, South China & Japan

White-fronted Goose: White-fronted Geese use to regularly winter in Dorset & Hampshire in the 80s and I regularly saw flocks of up to two hundred and fifty in the Hampshire parts of the Avon Valley in the early 80s. Sadly, those numbers are a thing of the past, due to climate change and probably other factors like population numbers. There were still up to twenty-three visiting the Poole Harbour area in some years in the first decade of this century. However, those numbers have dwindled to erratic individuals in a good year, between several years of absence. Therefore, a flock of this size is noteworthy

White-fronted Goose: It was also good to see youngsters in the flock with their more uniform underparts, with the adults having barred bellies and more extensive white at the base of the bill

White-fronted Goose: This flock continued to increase in the first half of Jan when it peaked at forty-four individuals

White-fronted Goose: They are noticeably smaller than this presumed local Greylag Goose

Within a few minutes, the Tundra Bean Geese family dropped in along with the rest of the thirty-eight White-fronted Geese. We were at the start of a cold snap which clearly had been very hard in neighbouring Europe and there was an unprecedented arrival of the two species throughout Southern England.

Tundra Bean Goose

Tundra Bean Goose

Tundra Bean Goose

Barnacle Goose: Soon after this Barnacle Goose flew in to join the White-fronted Geese

Barnacle Goose: It's not unusual to see a flock of Barnacle Geese passing through Poole Harbour towards the Fleet in the last couple of decades. These flocks aren't annual, but they occur often enough these days to not be as noteworthy as the Tundra Bean Geese and White-fronted Geese

Barnacle Goose: This is an immature individual and presumably it arrived with the Tundra Bean Geese and White-fronted Geese. We sometimes have lone individuals appearing in Poole Harbour, however, they are typically adults

The remarkable thing is I've don't remember seeing Geese in this field in the past and after some Greylag Geese and Canada Geese flew in, I was watching five different species of Geese feeding in the field. I added a few Egyptian Geese on the next visit. It is one of two short grassy fields next to the extensive land management work that has been going on for over two years on the adjacent Arne Moors, to create new inter-tidal marshes which will help to alleviate flood risk in the forthcoming decades to Poole and Wareham. Hopefully, this will be the first of many interesting Bird sightings in this area in the next few years.

This unremarkable-looking field might be set to become a lot more interesting now Arne Moors is being improved

25 Dec 25 - A Nice Christmas Present

During Christmas morning, I looked out of the living room window and saw there was a Sparrowhawk about four metres from the window looking at me. It was sitting on a low Pittosporum bush, which has been popular with the occasional visiting Blackcap feeding on the bush's red berries. Additionally, my local House Sparrows and Dunnocks can often be seen moving within the bush.

Sparrowhawk: I'm quite impressed with this photo considering it was taken through a double-glazed window

The Sparrowhawk spent a few minutes looking around and when it didn't see any targets, it finally flew out down my neighbour's drive.

Sparrowhawk

This Blackcap might have been what the Sparrowhawk was after. One appeared around mid-Dec and I've seen the odd visitor since then. On the day this photo was taken, I had my highest garden total with a male Blackcap and three Browncaps in the Pittosporum.

Blackcap: It's difficult to be sure if this is a female or a first winter male (12 Jan 26)

1 Dec 25 - Argentina 25 - A Final Walk Around Ushuaia

I woke early as I had a number of things to sort out before I left the flat to drop the bags with Oceanwide Expeditions. A quick scan of the quay confirmed the Ortelius was tied up.

Ortelius is the middle ship on the right hand jetty

As previously mentioned in an earlier Blog Post, this is a flat I wouldn't recommend. However, it had one positive thing, it was only a ten minute walk to drop the bags off. I then headed off to the Urban Reserve which is next to the city.

The view of the Urban Reserve from the flat

There is a raw look to the Urban Reserve: However, the scenery behind is stunning

I'm sure I would find similar raw-looking areas next to some of the high Arctic towns

There was a selection of Ducks on the water, which included over two hundred Crested Ducks, fifty Flying Steamerducks and a handful of Red Shovelers and Speckled Teal.

Crested Duck: This is the nominate specularioides subspecies which occurs from central Chile & Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Crested Duck: There is a second subspecies which occurs in the Andes of North Chile & North Argentina to Peru & Bolivia

Flying Steamerduck: This monotypic species occurs in South Chile & South Argentina. They also occur on the Falkland Islands, where they are a scarce species

Flying Steamerduck: Note, the thinner and less orange bills compared to the Flightless Steamerducks

Flying Steamerduck: The males also have darker heads than Flightless Steamerducks

Red Shoveler: This monotypic Duck is probably my favourite of the Latin American Wildfowl. They occur from South Peru & South Brazil to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Night Heron: Adult. This is the obscurus subspecies which occurs from North Chile & North-central Argentina to Tierra del Fuego. There are two other New World subspecies to the North of this subspecies and on the Falkland Islands, respectively

Night Heron: Juv

Night Heron: Another adult

After the lake at the Urban Reserve, I walked along the path next to the stream that flows into the lake. It didn't take long to find a feeding Magellanic Snipe. They are very approachable compared to our Snipe, which typically would have flushed as soon as it saw me.

Magellanic Snipe: This is the nominate magellanica subspecies which occurs from central Chile & Argentina to Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands

Magellanic Snipe

There was a party of three Long-tailed Meadowlarks at the end of the stream, as well as, a Chimango Caracara and a few Southern Lapwings by the houses that are adjacent to the Southern end of the reserve.

Long-tailed Meadowlark: This is the nominate loyca subspecies which occurs in Chile & Eastern Argentina as far South as Tierra del Fuego

Long-tailed Meadowlark: Two other subspecies occur in the North West of Argentina, with a third subspecies on the Falkland Islands

Long-tailed Meadowlark: This looks to be a display, as I saw two different individuals in this posture

Chimango Caracara: This is the temucoensis subspecies which occurs from South Chile & South Argentina to Tierra del Fuego

Southern Lapwing: This is the fretensis subspecies which occurs in South Chile & South Argentina. It always surprised me, how happy Southern Lapwings were on unfenced garden lawns. I saw few cats in Argentina and dog ownership wasn't high in Ushuaia, with many walked on leads. That scenario would be fantastic in the UK, but sadly it will never happen

As I reached the far corner of the Urban Reserve, it was good to see this old Argentinian Patrol Boat. It looked like she was being restored. Having checked since I got home, she was an American Fast Patrol Boat built during WW2 for deployment in the Pacific. After WW2, she was one of ten Fast Patrol Boats sold to the Argentinian Navy and in service up to 1984. After that she was used as a storage vessel, with most of the internal compartments removed. It is good to see that the Maritime Museum of Ushuaia is working closely with the Navy to restore her to her former glory. There still looks to be a lot of work to complete. However, there has been excellent progress to get her back to looking this good, from the sorry state as a glorified storage container.

Fast Patrol Boat A.R.A. Towora

It was lunchtime and time for me to head towards the port to board the Ortelius. I will cover the rest of the day in the next Blog Post.